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Thread ID: 43551 2004-03-18 09:42:00 USB Pen Drive vs Cellphone TideMan (4279) Press F1
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223507 2004-03-18 09:42:00 I have one of those USB pen drives (a cheap DSE model) that I use to transfer data from one place to another. The other day I loaded a few Mb onto it, checked that the files were there and were OK, and took it to a client's office. When I got there (about 10 min later) the thing would not load and the system said the device needed re-formatting. I couldn't believe it, so I tried it on various other machines, then I brought it home and tried it on the machine that had written to it. Sure enough, it was zapped.

The only thing I can think of is that it was beside my cellphone in my briefcase. If a cellphone can screw up the avionics in a plane (like the Piper that crashed in ChCh last year), maybe it can screw up a USB device. What do you guys think? Is that possible? And if so, how can you protect against such problems (apart from turning the cellphone off of course)?
TideMan (4279)
223508 2004-03-18 09:49:00 my cellphone makes my radio go funny, it makes my moniter looks wiggly.

I dont let my thumb drive or my palm pilot get with in about 2 feet of my cellphone just in case.

you could try wraping the thumb drive in tinfoil?
robsonde (120)
223509 2004-03-18 10:04:00 Any all metal screwtop container, be it steel or aluminum. The old 35mm cans could have been useful or the aluminium pill bottles. Pheonix (280)
223510 2004-03-18 10:11:00 steel cigar case robsonde (120)
223511 2004-03-19 01:21:00 I can remember an occassion when I had my radio in my bag right next to my phone. When the phone rang, it not only caused interferance on the radio, but it caused it to switch off and erased all the preset memories.

It is therefore possible in theory for a phone to erase an electronic memory.
Alasta (1420)
223512 2004-03-19 03:05:00 Cellphones cause a very high local level of EMI and RFI.
It will get into most things electronic.

Cellphones periodically "call home" to confirm they are still connected, so high RFI levels can occur whenever the phone is switched on.

The maximum power is 0.6 watts from memory, which is "a lot" at a local level.

Just think what they do to your brain ...
godfather (25)
223513 2004-03-19 07:24:00 A brain is not an electronic device.

This debate comes up time and time again, and all of the credible research shows that the level of heating applied to the brain by a wireless phone is far less than the heating fluctuations which occur naturally.
Alasta (1420)
223514 2004-03-20 01:24:00 Most electronic devices behave in a fairly predictable, sometimes logical, manner . Brains do not .

Using a cellphone might be associated with warm fuzzy feelings in a brain . The warmth might be from RF heating; the fuzzyness is most likely to be a "normal" brain mode . ]:)
Graham L (2)
223515 2004-03-20 01:32:00 Scientific evidence proves that 1 episode of Shortland street causes damage equal to 300 hours of cellphone use.

An entire year of SS can be as damaging as a decade tokin on a "P" pipe.

Basiclly equal to 1 episode of The Resort.
metla (154)
223516 2004-03-20 01:47:00 interestingly, the cell phones here in japan don't effect electrical equipment, or give me headaches as my old nz one used to do. nadius (3249)
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